Beyond The Walls
by Tarpon-Drama
Summary: When Alfred F.Jones, a 16 years old high school student, moved into the quiet city of Gateshood with his family, he always thought his life will be filled with utter boredom. That is, until he heard a rumor about the two blond thieves who roamed the town.


**Chapter I**

"Hurry, Arthur! They're gonna get us!" The blond boy screamed shrilly as he ran. He looked behind him, where another little boy tried to keep up with his speed. His choppy sandy-blond hair ruffled and tangled in the fierce wind; sprays of snow and dirt smudged his pale cheeks.

"Wait for me, you Frog! I can't run as fast as you are!" The little boy screamed back, his emerald green eyes wide with fear. He tried to sound brave, but to tell the truth he was scared as hell. If they failed tonight – like they always did before – they'll be so dead. Those jerks at the orphanage will drag them back and beat them like hell with those hard sticks.

But not this time; this time, they will get away for sure. They'll take the train and get away from that horrible place they once called home, and no one – not even God himself – will be able to drag them back.

The whistling sound of the incoming train pierced the dark winter night as the two boys approached the train stationed. Without breaking their pace, they jumped over the platform as the train entered the station. Behind them, sounds of people shouting started to issue – those people from the orphanage had followed them to the train station.

The little boy named Arthur looked behind him – his pale cheeks grew even paler as he heard those menacing shouts. "Francis… They're gonna catch up!" He whined as he tugged on the older boy's ragged sleeve; his eyes grew wider as his heartbeat escalated.

"Don't worry, Arthur. They won't. Even if they do, I'll make sure that you'll get away safely. I promise," The older boy gritted his teeth; his blue eyes stared at the approaching train.

"Promise?"

"Yeah."

"Pinky swear?" The younger boy pouted as he held up his pinky. His unusually thick eyebrows furrowed intently.

"Yeah, sure," The older boy smiled slightly and twined his pinky and the younger boy's pinky together.

Suddenly, the train blasted past them; white steam filled the small train station. After a moment, the train wheezed to a stop and opened its doors. At the same moment, several people burst into the station; holding sticks and several other tools used to beat little kids at the orphanage. Arthur's eyes widened in fear as he yelped, "Francis!"

Francis didn't waste any time to stare at those people; he merely took Arthur's hand and bolted as fast as he can through the opened train doors. The people outside began to shout as Francis and Arthur hide behind a sack of grains in the loaded train. The people aboard the train were snoozing away as they left their wrapped harvests unguarded. Their capped heads tilted gently to their shoulders as the people from the orphanage stomped inside the train, looking for the two children.

Francis and Arthur kept silent as their heartbeat thundered like train engines. Inside the train, those meanies were still searching; pacing as they talked with angry voices until the train conductor asked them to get off the train before it took off. They argued for a while until finally those jerks stomped their feet off the train.

The conductor walked away irritatedly; grumbling about impoliteness and rude behavior of youth nowadays. Meanwhile, the older one from the two boys – Francis – grinned and brushed his dirty overgrown blond hair off his face. "See, Arthur? They left! We're fine now…" He turned his head only to find Arthur asleep by his side.

He sighed, yet he couldn't hold back his smile. "Sleep, mon petit frère. Everything's going to be fine…" He murmured as he fell fast asleep himself.

* * *

"Wake up, mon chere Arthur... Or Onii-sama will kiss your slumber away!"

Arthur Kirkland woke up spluttering as he tried to push Francis away. "Get fucking off me, you Frog! Or I'll teach you how pain feels like!" Arthur shouted furiously as he punched Francis' approaching face as hard as he could. His sandy blond hair were tangled messily, its hairstyle still the same choppy one as the one he got when he ran away from the orphanage twelve years ago.

Francis Bonnefoy, his brother, laughed as he left Arthur cussing and spluttering in his messy bed. "Mon petit frère, it is time to wake up. Unless you want to continue whatever nice dream you had, of course," Francis winked as he laughed; causing Arthur's frown to grew deeper. "Now, don't give me that look. Your enormous eyebrows look even bigger that way."

"You git! Why don't you go bother someone else?" Arthur shouted, blush started to bloom on his pale cheeks.

"But mon petit frère, why should I do that when I can bother you instead?" Francis grinned widely. As he saw that Arthur was about to blow, he smiled and said, "Anyway, hurry up. Our food supply is getting pretty thin. We should go find some more, mon cher."

"Yeah, I'll get up in a sec. Just leave me alone, will you?" Arthur grumbled as he ruffled his choppy blond hair.

Francis smiled as he left Arthur alone grumbling on his bed. Arthur stared blankly for a while, remembering his dream. It was so vivid; as if he was there in that train with Francis once more, crouching behind a sack of grains. Arthur sighed painfully; as much as he hated to say it, Francis was the one who saved his life. He was the one who was brave enough to ran away from the orphanage, convincing Arthur to come along with him. Without Francis, he'll still be stuck in that horrible place they called an orphanage.

Here, in the town of Gateshood, they found a life they never had before. Food was plenty, and the weather was much nicer than in that grim orphanage. Plenty more sunshine for sure.

As Arthur reminisced about the past, suddenly his stomach grumbled like thunder rolling in the distance. He pouted; now that he think about it, the Frog said that food supply is thinning away. As he yawned, he got up from his higgledy-piggledy bed and stretched his stiff body.

"Time to go, I guess..." He thought absent-mindedly.

* * *

"Alfred-kun, would you like to go to McDonald's with us after school?"

"Huh? What?" The boy broke away from his thought as he heard the voice talking to him.

The black haired Japanese boy standing in front of his desk sighed and repeated what he said, "Alfred-kun, would you like to go to McDonald's with us after school?"

"Umm, nah, I think I'll pass this time, Kiku," The boy scratched his blond hair awkwardly. "And please, just call me Alfred."

"Are you okay? You seem tired," Kiku asked, concern coloured his voice.

"Nah, I'm fine. Just a little tired," Alfred smiled as he straightened his glasses. "You're going there with Mey?"

Right after he mentioned the name, a black haired girl appeared by the classroom door. "Kiku?" She called tentatively, as if she was afraid she might disturb someone in the half empty classroom.

"Right here, Mey," Kiku answered, smiling to the girl.

The girl looked around nervously and walked into the classroom straight to Kiku and Alfred. "Are you ready to go? I mean, it's not like I'm pushing you or something, is just that... You know... Umm..." She said nervously, twisting strands of her long silky black hair with her pale hand.

"Just a minute, Mey," Kiku replied gently as he turned back to Alfred. "You're sure you don't wanna come?"

As Mey approached, Alfred said, "Nah, you go have some quality time with Mey, you hear me?"

Kiku blushed at Alfred's word as Mey grabbed his hand and nuzzled her face on his arm. "Hello there, Shao Mey," Alfred greeted the girl, grinning widely.

"He... Hello, Alfred-kun..." The girl blushed slightly as she replied. "You're coming with us?"

"Nah, you guys go have fun, okay?"

The girl blushed even harder upon his words. Kiku sighed exasperatedly, and he said, "Well, if you're really sure about it... Let's go, Mey."

The two walked together to the classroom door as Alfred sighed and got up from his chair. It had been a week since he transferred to this school. Two weeks since he moved into this town. He hated every moment in it. Of course, he's happy at school, where he got a few good friends. But he hated the town; it was too quiet, too peaceful, too boring.

Whenever he's not at school, he tried to explore the town, but nothing actually caught his interest. Everything in that town seemed dull and boring. Sure, it got several interesting old buildings with great architecture, but other than that the town was about as dull as a dead rat.

As he picked up his bag and slung it over his back, he decided to drop by the old market and take a look. It's not like he had anything to do at home anyway. He might as well die out of boredom there.

* * *

The market was lively as he approached; fruit sellers shouting their items to the passing customers, fish sellers having a shouting match with housewives about fish prices... Alfred loved the place; it was so full of life. He already had a friend there – a girl who sell flowers, and a fruit seller who sometimes gave him discounts whenever he dropped by.

As he walked through the market to the fruit seller's place, he accidentally overheard pieces from a conversation.

"Yes, it was those thieves again... They attacked our place last week..."

"What did they take? The usual..?"

"Yeah, fruits and stuff... No money stolen though..."

Alfred cocked one of his eyebrows and straightened his glasses as he walked faster. Thieves? Now, that's something interesting! As he approached the fruit seller's stand, he thought about how he should capture those evil enemies of public with his own hands. Suddenly, a girl voice pierced his ears.

"Alfred! What the hell are you doing here?"

"Ah, Elizaveta!" Alfred grinned as he waved his hand at the brown haired woman. "I assume you're fine as always?"

"Don't you dare call me Elizaveta, young man!" The young lady wiggled her index finger, her other hand holding a big black frying pan.

"What do you mean? You're only a few years ahead of me, and you're obviously shorter," Alfred chuckled, avoiding deftly as the young lady swung the heavy cooking utensil over his head.

Elizaveta harrumphed and put her hands on her hips. "Now, you're not skipping school, aren't you?" She said suspiciously as she eyed Alfred with her green eyes.

"No way, Roderich would've bitten my head off," Alfred laughed as he approached Elizaveta cautiously. "Now, what is this I heard about moments ago... Something about a thief?"

Elizaveta was still eyeing him suspiciously, but then she turned around and sighed. "Oh, yes. Those thieves," She said glumly. "Those two boys."

"What, you know about them?" Alfred asked excitedly as he rummaged his backpack to find his wallet.

"Of course. There is nobody in this market who didn't know about them. They always came here since about twelve years ago..." Elizaveta said with an air of reminiscence. She brushed a strand of hair from her face and pinned them sideways with her flower shaped hairpin.

"What? Twelve years? That's a pretty long time. Didn't anybody try calling the cops or something?" Alfred furrowed his eyebrows as he struggled to pull his wallet from the depth of his mysterious backpack.

Elizaveta turned back, her green eyes filled with concern. "We couldn't," She said.

"Why? They're just thieves."

"Well, you see..." Elizaveta started, but she was cut off as shouts issued from the other part of the market, as well as sounds of crates tumbling and things crashing onto the ground. Angry cursing filled the lively market, and more sounds of crashing things grew closer to the place where Alfred and Elizaveta stood by.

Alfred was about to take a look when suddenly the crates containing empty cans and garbage beside Elizaveta's store were suddenly kicked by someone, causing its content to flew over everywhere. From the gap that was previously covered by those crates, suddenly burst two blond guys holding bloated sacks. The taller one jumped deftly over the overturned crates in one fluid movement. His slightly long wavy blond hair glinted in the sunshine.

The shorter one was not as fluid or as deft as the taller one, but his movements got a weird grace in them, as well as an air of pride and arrogance. His choppy blond hair got ruffled as he landed swiftly on the ground. Behind them, more shouts and curses issued. As he got up, his eyes accidentally met Alfred's.

Alfred froze as the short guy ran straight to him, his brain got into some kind of a brain freeze. He was unable to move, hypnotized by the awkward scene. "Alfred! Look out!" Elizaveta's voice woke him up as the blond kicked his stomach swiftly, causing him to tumble facedown onto the ground.

Before Alfred realized what had happened, he turned his body over only to see the blond holding his wallet. He must've snatched it when Alfred fell over. His emerald green eyes glinted in the sunlight as he grinned at Alfred. "Thanks for the wallet," He chuckled as he deftly ran away, following his partner.

"Alfred? Are you okay? Are you wounded?" Elizaveta's voice rang loud and clear, waking Alfred up from his dazed state. Suddenly, anger started to pulse through his veins. That evil thief took his wallet. HIS wallet.

"I'm a hero, and nobody messes around with a hero," Alfred thought furiously as he gritted his teeth. "Those stupid villains who dare to mess around with me will get their fucking evil ass kicked for sure!"

Alfred stood up – Elizaveta voiced her concern about wounds or something – and kicked himself into a run.

* * *

**Anyway, this is our first joint fic, so constructive criticisms will really be appreciated! No flaming please. Thanks! :)**

**Note about the name:**

**Shao Mey - Taiwan (name inspired by Fullmetal Alchemist's Shao May XP)**


End file.
